Wiles Robert Hunter

Wiles Robert Hunter was born at Terre Haute, Indiana, on 10 April 1874. The son of an influential industrialist, he encountered politics and social questions at an early age. The economic crisis of 1893 led him into social work. In Chicago and New York he investigated poverty, directed settlement institutions and published Tenement Conditions in Chicago and then Poverty, becoming an important voice of Progressive reform. He was also active within American socialism. The intensity of this work affected his health. Around 1905 a physician recommended sunshine and moderate exercise. Hunter discovered golf and approached it with the same intellectual energy. He became a strong amateur, associated with major players and architects and studied Long Island courses. In 1912 he undertook an extensive British links tour, establishing relationships including one with Harry Colt. Hunter moved to California in 1918 to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. He helped found Berkeley Country Club, developed a routing and made green models. His theoretical interest culminated in The Links in 1926, one of the first major American books devoted to architecture. Hunter advocated hazards that were varied and plentiful yet naturally integrated, capable of producing better golfers. Artificial bunkers should appear placed by nature and formed by a gifted sculptor. Meeting Alister MacKenzie converted theory into a major collaboration. Hunter encouraged the British architect to seek California opportunities and participated with him at Meadow Club, Green Hills, Valley Club of Montecito, Cypress Point and other projects. MacKenzie explicitly acknowledged the importance of his associate at Cypress Point. Hunter contributed local knowledge, relationships, construction, strategic discussion and a social vision of the game. With H. Chandler Egan he also prepared Pebble Beach for the 1929 U.S. Amateur, reshaping greens, bunkers and several holes. Hunter largely withdrew from design around 1930 and returned to writing and politics. He died at Montecito on 14 May 1942. His role was long reduced to that of MacKenzie’s assistant, but recent research reveals a much more complete figure: theorist, reformer, player, promoter and co-author. He helped give Californian architecture its naturalism and cultural reach. His central idea remains modern: golf can be a major landscape art while serving a community broader than a private elite.